Owner proposed new two-family home on lot zoned for manufacturing.On February 8, 2012, the City Planning Commission approved Gou Yu Wang’s proposal to replace a one-story house with a three-story residential building at 16-11 Norman Street between Cypress and Wyckoff Avenues in Ridgewood, Queens. Wang’s property is near the corner of Norman Street and Wyckoff Avenue and is zoned M1-4D for light manufacturing uses. The rest of Norman Street to the north is zoned R5B for residential uses. The existing building, dating from the 1930s, is adjacent to a two-story residential building and a laundromat fronting Wyckoff Avenue. Wang needed an authorization from the Commission to redevelop the site.

The Commission may permit new residential buildings on a manufacturing- zoned lot with an existing residential use if it makes the following findings: the zoning lot contains a building with at least one story of lawful residential or community facility uses and no more than one story of commercial or manufacturing uses, the zoning lot is not occupied by any other commercial or manufacturing uses, and at least 25 percent of the block is occupied by residential or community facility uses. The Commission must also find that the new residential use would not be near certain manufacturing or industrial uses, and that the residential use would not adversely impact existing commercial and manufacturing uses.

Queens Community Board 5 unanimously approved Wang’s proposal. At the Commission’s December 12, 2011 review session, Planning confirmed that the laundromat did not have on-site dry cleaning facilities and would not emit toxic fumes. Planning noted that the buildings behind the lot, facing Stephen Street and within the same M1-4D zoning district, were used as warehouses and would not impede the authorization.

The Commission unanimously approved Wang’s request, finding that the proposal was eligible for the authorization because there would be no prohibited uses and over 80 percent of the block was residential. No action from the City Council was required.